Milford High splits swim meet with Lake Forest

Milford High School's girls swim team outpaced Lake Forest last week, while the Spartans edged out the boys team during both schools' second meet of the season.

By Scott Goss

Milford High School's girls swim team outpaced Lake Forest last week, while the Spartans edged out the boys team during both schools' second meet of the season.

The Lady Bucs won their head-to-head meet at the Milford Boys & Girls Club on Thursday by a score of 121-49.

The Milford boys, meanwhile, finished with 83 points to the Spartans' 87.

Michele McKenzie, the head coach of both teams, said she was pleased by the effort of both her squads, regardless of the final score.

"We're looking really great," she said. "We have a lot of sick kids, but they came out and stepped up in some of the longest events. And the boys held their own. They didn't end up victorious, but it was close and we had a lot of great finishes."

The girls dominated Lake Forest, taking first place in nine of the meet's 11 events and second place in another nine events, including the two they didn't win outright.

Juniors Osi Chilton and Alison Sanders, along with freshman Sara Lingo, led the way each collecting a pair of first place finishes in individual events.

Chilton won the 200-meter freestyle at 2:16.88 and the 100-meter backstroke at 1:10.29.

Sanders took the 50-meter freestyle at 29.13 and the 100-meter freestyle at 1:05.19.

Lingo cleaned up in the 500-meter freestyle at 5:47.24, a full minute and 12 seconds ahead second-place finisher and senior teammate Peyton Shockley. Lingo also won the 100-meter breaststroke at 1:18.8.

Senior Samantha Gillespie, sophomore Megan Kirkpatrick and freshman Leigh Ann Rossetti also had strong individual showings, each finishing the meet with a pair of second-place finishes.

In combination with senior Jessica Downes, Chilton, Sanders and Lingo also notched relay wins in the 200-meter medley at 2:09.45 and the 200-meter freestyle at 1:55.09.

Meanwhile, the team of Rossetti, Kirkpatrick, Shockley and sophomore Corrine Bogan won first in the 400 freestyle relay at 4:35.60.

The boys won first place in five events and second in the other six.

Senior Philip Berry took the 200-meter individual medley at 2:36.47. Senior James Hagen won the 50-meter freestyle at 24.01 and junior Robert Clendaniel edged out a win in the 100-meter breaststroke at 1:20.25, just 0.07 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher from Lake Forest.

Senior Trevor Maloney finished second in the 200-meter freestyle and the 500-meter freestyle at 2:22.84 and 6:49.3 respectively. Other second-place finishers included Senior Philip Berry in the 100-meter butterfly, senior Dennis Kalaygian in the 100-meter freestyle and senior Clay Shirey in the 100-meter backstroke.

The girls' squad is now 2-0, having defeated Caravel Academy 103-67 in Milford on Dec. 4. The boys have split their meets with a dominating 112-46 victory over Caravel at the same event.

With three Bus having already qualified for states, McKenzie said the teams are setting their expectations high this year. Hagen has qualified in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle, while Chilton has qualified in the 100-meter backstroke and Lingo has qualified in both the 500-meter freestyle and the 100-meter breaststroke.

"Not to be lofty, but I'd really like one of the top spots for the girls at the conference tournament this year," McKenzie said. "I'd also like to see more guys qualify for states. We have some that are very close now."

The Bucs will face their first road challenge on Thursday when they take on Indian River at the Howard Ennis School at 4 p.m.